Happy Father’s Day

Allow me to start by wishing all of our Dads, Step-dads, Granddads, etc a Happy Father’s Day today. Although there are a number of limits on the Father’s Day activities this year, I do hope that you get to enjoy some quality time with your family and you have time to reflect upon the critical role that you play in your child’s life.

According to Dads4Kids, fatherlessness is a growing problem in Australia and the western world. Whether caused by divorce, broken families, drug or alcohol addiction, irresponsible men or by deliberate single parenting, more and more children grow up without fathers. Father absence, whether physically or emotionally, has been shown to be a major disadvantage to the wellbeing of children. No doubt it would be equally so for children without mothers, but the point of mentioning it here is to underline the important role we all play as fathers. We should not underestimate how being a good father contributes to a child’s emotional and physical wellbeing. It is worth acknowledging and celebrating our dads. 

Have you found a LFH groove?

At school, this past week has felt a little more routine than the previous 3 weeks of LFH. I’m not sure if it has felt that way in your home or whether you are struggling to find a groove? Routine can sometimes be viewed negatively (eg it feels like Groundhog Day) but at the moment from the families I’ve spoken with there are lots of parents saying that ‘we have found a routine that’s working for us’. Some start the day with a walk before getting down to work, some follow the school timetable with children starting work at 9:00am in their home and pause for breaks similar to how they would if they were at school, some take a family bike ride just after lunch. Whatever your preference is, I think the families that appear to be feeling a little more at ease with LFH are those that have found a routine or a groove that works for them. There are numerous studies that highlight the health benefits to establishing a routine. Routines help to reduce stress and provide a sense of calm and control. If you are feeling stressed and anxious at present, perhaps a good starting point to address it is to look at your current routines. There may be better articles out there, but I came across a short and easy to read one here that you might find helpful.

Where to from here

As things currently stand, we remain under the stay at home orders until midnight on Friday 10 September with learning from home to continue next week. We will need to await the health advice and announcements from the government with respect to the final week of Term 3, but to me it seems likely that we will remain learning from home for Week 10 as well. Beyond that is anyone’s guess. Each week, principals across the state participate in a state-wide briefing led by the Secretary of the Department. In this week’s briefing, we learned that under the staged return to school commencing on 25 October, that in addition to the requirements for all staff to be vaccinated, canteen supervisors, volunteers, contractors, scripture and ethics teachers and any other adults working with children on school sites will also be required to provide proof of their full vaccination prior to commencing work in the school. I share this with you now, as it will have implications for many of you that work or volunteer in our school.

Paralympics

How good are the Paralympics? The whole nation has been caught up in the goal ball phenomenon but also in the character, determination and skill of the athletes. I really enjoyed in Thursday night’s coverage the footage of the post-race marriage proposal by Cape Verde guide Manuel Antonio Vaz da Veiga to his visually impaired 200m sprinter girlfriend Pereira Semedo. Thankfully, she said yes and then proceeded to flash her engagement ring to the cameras as fans around the world marvelled at another truly magical moment in Tokyo. Dylan Alcott’s class as both a person and as a representative of our country continues to shine on the international stage. We are so fortunate to have so many great role models for our children to look up to and aspire to be like.

Hope you are staying well. Have a great week.

David Holland

Congratulations to the following students who were awarded Junior and Senior Students of the Week for their work during Week 8.

Thank you to those who were able to join us on Monday afternoon. It was just a small group that joined the executive team for an update and Q&A session and there were 3 main questions and answers to share from this parent Q&A:

1.   In this week’s hard copies, some sheets were A5 size and were difficult to read and write on – could they be A4 please?

The reason the paper packs contained scaled down A4 pages was to try and save some paper. We are printing nearly 150 hard copies each week that vary from 75-90 pages each and it is quite costly to do so not to mention not great sustainable practice, especially if lockdown extends well into next term. Having said that, they still need to be readable and usable at whatever size we include. We will work on ensuring that those that are included are readable.

2.  What’s the best way to communicate with the teachers at the moment? Some teachers use Class Dojo and others prefer that parents email the office (to be forwarded on) which is not quick or straightforward?

Class Dojo is not a mandated school communication system, some teachers choose to use it because it works well for them. Given the current circumstances, we understand the need for more direct communication. There are two ways that you can do this. Firstly, if it is more urgent, you can call the school office, leaving a message and ask for the class teachers to give you a call at their next opportunity. Alternatively, you can email the school email address Lambton-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au which is monitored between 8:30-3:30pm each day and the office will forward your email to the class teacher. As a minimum standard, our practice is that teachers respond as soon as they are able, but at least within 48 hours (not including weekends). During learning from home, we are particularly careful to monitor the school email for parent correspondence.

3.    I understand the need to support all students learning from home from an equity perspective, but could the school reconsider the possibility of teachers doing a Zoom lesson once a week – to help keep the students engaged and motivated with Zoom?

This is a challenging space for a number of reasons, but we are happy to discuss this issue again as an executive team to consider the benefits and challenges before making a decision. Any potential changes to our current practice wouldn’t take effect until Term 4 if we did trial this.  

We encourage you to continue to monitor the Advice for Families information on NSW DoE website regarding keeping children at home wherever possible. If you are finding you require further support for learning at home, please contact us. We are happy to support you and your child to engage in this important requirement to help keep our students, staff and families safe and well.

The following information is current and directly from the Advice for Families page of the Department of Education’s public website:

●  Parents and carers must keep children – across primary and secondary school – at home unless they need to be at school. Schools and outside of school hours care (OOSHC) services are open for any child that needs it.

●  Schools will have minimal supervision on site for those students who cannot be educated at home, for example if their parent or carer is an essential worker.

●  If you are working from home, and your child is able to be educated from home, please keep them at home.

Thank you for working with us. The intent of the message is quite clear.  The exceptions to learning from home are for children of essential workers or where a child would otherwise be in an unsafe or vulnerable situation. If in doubt please contact Mr Holland at school to talk it through. As always, your cooperation and support is sincerely appreciated.

https://education.nsw.gov.au/inside-the-department/covid-19/advice-for-school-based-staff/level-4-plus-schools 

As announced at the Premier’s press conference on Thursday 19 August, stay at home rules apply to all regional NSW school until midnight on 10 September. Parents and carers must keep children at home unless they need to be at school. Schools and outside of school hours care (OOSHC) services are open for any child that needs it.

NSW Health current advice requires all staff must wear a face mask or covering at all times including when working outdoors in all schools operating under Level 4 restrictions – this includes in playgrounds and on school grounds.

While at school, masks  or face coverings are required in all indoor settings for all students in Year 7 and above. Primary aged students are not required to wear a face masks, but will be supported to do so if they wish. 

Non-essential visitors are not permitted on school sites. Parents and carers must follow their school’s advice regarding changes to student drop off and pick up. This includes staying in the car when dropping off and picking up children if it is safe to do so. This does not apply to drop off and pick up from outside of school hours care (OOSHC) as sign in and out procedures are required.

Parents should:

• follow the physical distancing advice for their local area and avoid gathering outside of school gates
• remain outside of school grounds

• adhere to mask-wearing requirements and sign in using the Service NSW QR code when entering the school.

●  Early childhood services including outside of school hours care (OOSHC) can continue to operate for those who need it

●  Families to be encouraged to keep their children at home wherever possible but no child will be turned away from school

●  Implement revised roll marking procedures incorporating use of “F” for students participating in learning from home

●  Minimum staff on-site to oversee one unit of learning for students attending school site, noting that flexible syllabus requirements are in place

●   Kindergarten orientation and transition activities are recommended to be delayed until later in Term 3 or early Term 4

●  Canteens and uniform stores are not to operate

●  No community use arrangements

●  No community language schools

●  No multicultural celebrations

●  Continued enhanced cleaning and hygiene supply arrangements

●   No SRE/SEE/VSA

●  No P&C activities on school sites.